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Myrddin
Myrddin (MERÐ-in) ap Delyth (also known as Emrys) is a powerful sorcerer who is half Fae and half human. He was a member of the court of Vortigern and later the mentor and teacher of Arthur. Background Childhood Myrddin is the only child of Delyth - A scullery maid to a noble family in Caerfyrddin. He grew up in relative squalor and was put to work beside his mother by the age of eight. People often rumoured about who and ''what ''his unknown father was. Some of them, including his lord, had caught glimpse of his pointed ears (though he tried hard to hide them with his hair), and they suspected he was a cambion, fathered by a demon. Vortigern and the Dragons In 497, the then king of the Britons, Vortigern, was hard pressed to stop invading Saxons, Saxons that had betrayed him when he had them as mercenaries against this Picts. He began building a stronghold on a hill high above Caerfyrddin. However, every night when the builders rested, the work they had done would fall to the ground. Vortigern's magicians claimed that the project had been cursed and the only way to stop it was to sprinkle the blood of a boy without a mortal father on the fort's foundation. Vortigern went into Caerfyrddin on a search for such a boy and a lord calimed that he had a boy like that as a serf. The lord presented Myrddin to Vortigern and the magicians verified that the boy was just what they needed. Vortigern took Myrddin back to the hill to carry out his sacrifice, but the boy begged the king to let him speak. Myrddin told Vortigern that his magicians were wrong and their efforts to build the castle were not cursed. It was, rather, two dragons fighting each other in a cavernous lake beneath the hill that caused the quakes that toppled the fort. On a whim, Vortigern decided to heed Myrddin's words and had the bottom of the hill excavated. Indeed there was a subterranian lake, and as the excavators dug deeper, they discovered the fighting dragons. The two dragons - a red dragon and a white dragon - emerged from the hole and out into the sun where the red dragon defeated the white dragon and drove it away. When asked how he knew about the dragons, Myrddin claimed he had had a vision in which the red dragon's victory over the white dragon sybolised the Britons prevailing over the Saxons. Delighted that the red dragon was a symbol of his people, Vortigern captured it, and along with Myrddin, took it back to his castle in Londinium. Vortigern charged Myrddin as the keeper of his dragon and made him a part of his court. Vortigern was soon murdered by his Saxon allies and his court was dispersed when Uther Pendragon returned from Brittany to take his rightful place as Britian's king. Sorcerers' Guild After taking back the throne, Pendragon charged his chief magician, Menw, with creating a guild of sorcerers to serve the kingdom with their magical talents. Other powerful enchanters soon joined this guild, including the immortal Lord Gwyddien and Nimue, the Lady of the Lake. Myrddin was added to the roster as Menw's protege. Since Myrddin was so young, Menw thought it appropriate that Myrddin pass a special test in order to become a full member of the guild. The special test revolves around Menw's prophecy that when Pendragon dies, the Kingdom will fall into chaos. Pendragon orders that a special sword be made by his magicians. After he dies, the sowrd will determine his heir by whoever can draw the sword from a stone. Menw charges the creation of this sword to Myrddin. It is to be called Echscalibwr, a faerie word for "invincible". Myrddin leaves Caerllion immediately to begin this task. Emrys After leaving Caerllion, Myrddin settles in a small village a few dozen miles from Caerfyrddin. Here, he goes by the name of Emrys and lives for the most part as a hermit. The local children tell rumours that he is a sorcerer and a pagan priest. One girl, Gwynyth ferch Rhys, has befriended him and refuses to judge him based on other people's assumptions. On a stormy evening, Myrddin catches Gwyn wandering the woods by his cottage, lost. He takes her back to his cottage, rescuing her from the storm. Category:Characters Category:Fae Category:Humans Category:Hybrids Category:Tylwyth Teg Category:Sorcerers Category:Citizenry of Dyfed